Part Five: Marginal hands and everything else you shouldn't play

 

In this section we will take a look at some hands that you will be seeing a lot during your time at the tables. Some of these hands can be very profitable, while other are only profitable in the proper situation. The most important thing about these hands is to learn how to stay out of trouble with them. Many of the hands you will see in this category start to draw the line between playable and just plain stupid, so you need to study them well and recognize when its okay to play them. Hands in this section are divided into three categories:

 

AX Suited

Suited Connectors

Low Pairs

 

 

These hands can be powerful in large multi-way pots, but their pair making ability greatly decreases as the value of the other cards falls below six or seven. You can win large pots with these hands when you hit the nut flush, but to include these hands as regulars in your arsenal would be a mistake. Careful consideration must be made when choosing to call with these hands. Cold calling a raise is rarely ever correct with AX suited. Anytime your other card is a five or below, you are playing a pretty weak hand and it would serve you best not to get in the habit of playing these hands. Look for lots of players and a pot that is easy to get into to make AX suited a profitable hand.

 

 

Once again another set of hands that certainly has merit, but needs to be played carefully or you might be out lots of money. These hands have only marginal value in terms of making pairs and usually will take nice pots with the obvious straight or flush. These hands play best against weak opponents in large multi-way pots. Play these hands selectively and carefully. Raising should almost always lead to a fold and you will need passive players to really see the value in these hands.

 

 

These small pairs are great under one condition: you can see the flop cheap. Most of the money you will win with these hands is when they improve to three of a kind. For that reason, you need to make sure you are in a game where you will be paid off if you do hit a set and that looking for your set can be fairly cheap. What we mean by that is you want a rather loose and passive game. In an aggressive game, your opponents may raise to often to make finding a set with these hands worth it. If pre flop action is hot, your best to lay these hands down.